How We Reached 10k Followers On Instagram And How You Can Too

Instagram has been one of the most powerful tools we have used to build our California + Destination Wedding Photography business. On average, we get 3-5 wedding inquiries a month from brides that found us on the platform. And it cost us ZERO dollars to get their attention! All that was required was time and engagement.

This morning we were pretty excited to see that our Instagram account had tipped over the 10k mark.

The Instagram community is full of so many talented dreamers, freedom thinkers, and artisans. After nearly two years of networking, liking and sharing – we have over 10,000 people that believe in us.

Our hearts are truly full.

With a solid Instagram strategy, and a little hustle, you can grow your account just like we did. Today we are sharing the exact strategies we used to grow our Instagram audience to over 10,000 followers.

#1 Optimize Your Instagram Profile

Your Instagram profile is the first piece of real estate that a potential follower sees.

It’s super important to optimize the profile space to its maximum potential. There are 4 main components to an Instagram profile :

Username

Profile Photo

Instagram Bio

Website Url

Learn how to attract your dream followers with a killer Instagram profile that stands out and converts in this post here.

#2 Develop Your Instagram Feed Aesthetic

Instagram is a visual platform, therefore your photos need to be top notch. No exceptions. With iPhones pretty much being the norm, it honestly blows our mind when an ugly photo pops up in our feed. How is that even possible!? That to us, and most everyone else, communicates laziness. #sorrynotsorry

If you want to capture your audience’s attention and turn them into raving fans, then you have to blow them away and make them stop scrolling.

Think of your Instagram feed as a 9 image grid. You have nine changes to make someone like and follow you! If you think about your favorite feeds to follow, the emulate a certain feel or vibe to them with the images they share.

Some accounts that do this really well are @studiodiy (left), @songofstyle (middle) @juliahengel (right).

The key to an Instagram feed is the balance of color, and space.

Color

Try to keep the color as uniform as possible. The trick to doing this is to stick to one filter. Editing your photos in the same way each time will make them flow better.

Space

For a seamless flow, you need space. Whether that be white space, or the main focus of the photo being closer or farther away. Think of space like zoom on a camera – you need a balance of tight and wide photos to make it look most appealing.

#3 Use Hashtags

If you’ve heard about the new algorithm changes, then chances are you know it’s getting a lot harder to master Instagram. Now more than ever, it’s absolutely vital to maintain engagement on your feed.

#4 Tell A Visual Story

You’re the only person who knows what actually went into taking that photo. Share with people the story behind it. Where was it taken? How does it make you feel? What is happening in the photo? Make us connect to the image and pull at our heart strings.

You need to be relatable. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience, and study how they communicate. Research your ideal client and learn what they are interested in. It’s ok to have a one liner every once in a while, but try to go deeper.

#5 Plan Ahead

In order to post everyday, you need to plan ahead. We recommend creating a social media calendar to help you become more consistent with Instagram. When planning out your content, leave room for change. Sometimes you might go to a really cool coffee shop mid week and want to post a photo of your cappuccino. If all of your posts are scheduled already, you won’t be able to.

#6 Tag Brands

Tagging brands and vendors in your photos is essential to building your Instagram following quickly. Not only will it notify the people you tagged, but also expand the reach of your photo. Chances are, the person you tagged will want to re-share the photo on their feed and tag YOU back! This will result in even more exposure and credibility for your business.

We’ve had photos liked by Kate Spade, Tilly’s and pretty much every donut and coffee shop we’ve visited.

#7 Use Geotags

A geo tag is like a check in on Facebook. If you have a physical location for your business, then you must set it up as a custom location and tag it in each post. If your business is worldwide, then use the location that you took the photo in or the city you want to attract customers from. According to Simply measured, Instagram posts that feature a location see a 50% higher engagement rate.

#8 Use Call To Actions

Ask something and they will answer. Create conversations and a highly engaged audience. People want to join in and feel like they are part of the discussion.

Think about what your audience might respond to. By asking questions, it shows that you care about your audience, and they aren’t just numbers.

If you’re afraid your question will be met with crickets, don’t be. If you want to build a following, you have to get over that fear. More people are likely to double tab (heart) your photo than they are to comment. Change their behavior by posting a question at the end of every caption. Whether they reply or not, they will always have the option to. The easier the question is to answer, the higher response you will get.

#9 Reply To Comments

We’ll admit, as you gain more followers, it becomes harder to reply to each comment. Often times people leave comments that are empty such as “nice” or “cool” and it doesn’t feel worth our time to reply. Even worse, it could be an automatic bot that leaves these comments.

However, it IS worth your time, only because they took the time to write it, and therefore you should reciprocate. If it was a bot that left the comment, you still will notify the person that left the comment forcing them to take a peek at your Instagram feed.

Unless you have thousands of comments on each photo, there really isn’t an excuse why you can’t spend a few minutes writing thank you. Be social! Respond to comments to keep the conversation going. Visit your followers accounts and engage with their posts too .

#10 Post Every Day

You don’t have to post to Instagram every hour, but definitely everyday if you want to stay relevant. Consistency is what will propel you forward. If you post too much, you will saturate your followers feeds and annoy them. Track your engagement to see your optimism posting days and times. We tend to have the most engagement after 10pm because a lot of our followers are on the opposite side of the world as us. Crazy, right!?

People want to know that you are reliable, and can count on content from you. It keeps you relevant. Many of us give up before we see results, but we promise if you keep going, you will gain momentum.

You won’t grow ANY social media platform if you don’t show up like it’s your boring 9-5 job. HUSTLE.

If you don’t have a solid Instagram strategy to follow, it can get messy and overwhelming trying to grow your account.

That’s why we’ve created the #InstauthorityChallenge, a FREE step-by-step email course that teaches you how to build a solid foundation and grow your Instagram in just 7 days.

If you want to grow your Instagram in 2017, it’s time to start planning NOW. You can REGISTER here and get started today!

Super helpful! Currently trying to step up my newest IG profile (just passed the 100 follower mark). The one I will take away and implement immediately is to include CTA’s on the description. Haven’t really done that much and I’m sure it’ll help with interaction! Thanks for the tips 🙂
Joyce Odette

Thank you so much for sharing these tips. I’ve been ignoring Instagram for a while and focusing on Twitter and Facebook but I definitely want to get back into using Instagram so I’ll be bookmarking this post!

This was such a helpful article, especially for a new blogger like me. Uploading photos with a consistent color/editing style has been the hardest part for me. I’m learning though and your tips have definitely helped! Thanks for creating such great content!

This is why I will never break 10k. I love IG so much but I think of it more as a fun thing than a business thing. It makes me so happy though to post what I want so I will just have to deal with it! ha!

Since having my third child, I have had a much harder time posting every day and planning ahead. That is one thing I definitely need to improve on again. I love these tips! Congratulations on 10k! That is awesome!

This post is perfectly timed – I’m about to take the plunge into the Instagram pool for my new blog. You have some great ideas on here, that I will definitely have to come back to as I’m getting up in running. Congratulations on hitting 10K, and thank you for the great advice!

These are great tips! I started using Later (used to be Latergram) to schedule my posts, and post 3 times a day. I am seeing growth, not fast growth, but at least SOME growth. How long did it take you to get to 10K?

These are all such amazing tips! I love Instagram, and last year I did the daily photo challenge. It really helped me post everyday, gave me inspiration and helped me find a supportive community of followers! I agree that posting everyday makes a huge difference! Thanks for the tips 🙂

Thank you for sharing this! Much of what I know, but am still working on nailing down and defining for myself — @linnea_white — and my shop — @shopatdarling. Check out my blog here! http://www.shopatdarling.com/blog

Heather | My Moxietude

Some of these I do and some I don’t so thank you for opening my eyes. I am definitely going to put some of these tips in practice. What resolution do you recommend? And is it true that vertical images are better than horizontal?

Hey Cindy! We recommend the highest resolution you have. Quality photos definitely get more engagement 🙂 Square photos are best for Instagram, however we’ve been using horizontal photos lately and they seem to work just fine!

Hey Anne! Great question! Unfortunately, the older photos are more likely to be buried already and wouldn’t benefit from adding hashtags to them. With thousands of photos being posted each hour, it’s best to use them on your NEW photos 🙂

Thanks for all the tips! will defiantly put these in to action and hope my Instagram will grow ! I’m only around 600 follower at the movement but trying to build up a following as fast as possible for my travel blog

Fantastic tips! It’s so hard to post every day and keep it consistent since that requires constant photo editing. I miss the days when you could just post anything and everything 🙂 I do love responding to commenters, though!
erin | sandsunandmessybuns.com

I’m Isabella, nice to meet you! Just wanted to pop in and say thank you for this lovely post. The tip included in your article are simple, easy, and real. I have read a lot of info on how to grow your following IG and the thing that sets you guys apart is how honest your words are!

Thank you. I’m excited to try this new tricks on my Instagram.

Princess Jezzy

First of all CONGRATULATIONS 10K is magical!!! I don’t have a business but would like to start seeing how to incorporate my skills on social media and end up INSTA-FAMOUS or get paid endorsements so I also read your post on hash tags and loved it and am now following you on IG you are now at 11.6k looking forward to more posts keep up the great work

Your article helped me get started with playing around on Instagram. I have not been too serious, but since launching my business this week, I’m going to spend more time growing my following. Just a quick question, do you feel now with the popularity with Instagram stories, that there is more engagement on that then the feed themselves?

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About Us

Hello, and welcome to the Moose Studio Blog! We are Josh and Michaela - a wedding photography team based in Newport Beach, California. Grab some coffee and explore our latest work, browse resources for bloggers and get a peek in our life!